


Marks

by oodal (softkyun)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Comfort, M/M, Series Spoilers, Spoilers, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1279495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softkyun/pseuds/oodal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes a long time for Levi to fess up to the marks that he's made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marks

**Author's Note:**

> this was just inspired by a random little idea, sorry it isn't very well thought-out! and please forgive me for any typos, it was written pretty late at night. orz

Eren noticed the strange black marks on Captain Levi's wrist five months ago.

When he'd noticed, he hadn't been able to say something; the curiosity had swelled up in him, but the fact that they had been in a group of people kept him from saying it. As excited as he got, he knew better than to point it out - but if he had seen it, hadn't someone else seen it? He'd caught the marks when Levi's sleeve had caught and torn while he worked on his gear, fixing something or other that Eren wasn't entirely sure about. Maybe Eren had been the only one looking; his eyes wandered to the captain often, because even with such a small stature and generally quiet and composed atmosphere about him, he captured Eren's attention with ease.

It had just been a glimpse. A couple of strange looking marks, nothing more, and although Eren had been very curious about them - almost to the point of asking his superior about them - there had been a lot of things going on, and a lot on Eren's mind. He forgot about it easily; he had other things to worry about, bigger, better... well, deadlier, things in general. 

\---

When he noticed them the second time, it was when Levi had pulled off his shirt in front of Eren. Eren had been embarrassed (was Levi allowed to be that muscular when he seemed so slight, Eren wondered - even though he knew he had to get the power from somewhere?) and turned his head away quickly, despite the fact that they were at that comfort level now. The two of them had somehow managed to get to know each other more, naturally, considering how much Levi was at Eren's side - or perhaps the opposite - and they'd become a little more at ease. It didn't seem like much to anyone else, but considering how uptight Levi was in the first place, Eren came to recognize the tender little mercies where they were, even though stripping in front of Eren was not a tender mercy at that moment. 

He barely even saw those marks, catching them at the edge of his vision when he twisted his head to the side to keep from staring at Levi's flexing back.

"Captain---" He began, ready to ask exactly what was on Levi's back, but before he could say much else, Levi stuck out his hand expectantly without saying a word. Eren froze, because he knew exactly what that meant; Levi wanted the rest of the laundry, and he wanted it now, because he was washing it. The two of them were living together right now, waiting for Hanji to arrive as she had more experiments and tests for Eren to go through. Eren didn't really mind the living arrangement... But the cleanliness was really getting to him.

Especially when his clothing was demanded while he was still wearing them. 

So flustered was he by having to take off his dirty clothing then and there - "Refrain from getting anything else dirty while I wash these" - that Eren didn't think about those marks again.

The next time Eren saw them, they were sitting on the couch together - Levi was reading, and although Eren was pretending to read, he'd really just started to doze off, head falling onto the shorter man's shoulder. His eyes started to drift shut when Levi reached down to adjust his always-long-sleeves, making Eren's head move with his shoulder blade and also granting him a rare glimpse of flesh near Levi's wrist, perhaps a little further on his forearm. There they were again - tiny little dashes. There were more than he thought.

"What are they?"

He blurted before he could stop, and he felt Levi stiffen beneath him, watched him pull the sleeves back over the marks. 

"None of your business."

Levi snapped quietly in return, and Eren - although he knew that the two of them would never fully understand one another, or know everything about each other - was injured enough by the anger at such a question, ruining a fairly tender moment, that he didn't say another word.

\---

The next time Eren saw them was when they were kissing. Levi lifted one hand to reach up and push a stray piece of Eren's messy hair, which had grown a little long in between cuts, and it happened to be the hand - intensely curious, almost demanding now, Eren latched onto his wrist and held it tight.

"Please, I just want to know what they are."

He begged, and Levi fell quiet this time, looked like he was going to actually answer the question. After a few moments, Levi sighed, leaning back against the chair and glancing towards the window.

"Tattoos." Levi answered curtly, and Eren shifted a little closer to him again, resting his chin on the other man's shoulder.

"How?" He asked curiously, his voice soft in answer, because he felt like that was kinda what the mood required right now, even though he didn't think himself a total expert in reading the mood, anyways. This time, it took longer for him to get an answer, Levi looked pensive, furrowing his eyebrows together and saying nothing for a long stretch of time.

"I sterilize the needle myself and use India ink." 

Eren wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but he figured that part was just fine. He figured Levi was clean about them, even though Eren hadn't really heard of a soldier having tattoos before. They were street sort of things.

"Why?" That was his last question, and at this one, Levi stood from the couch and left him sitting.

\---

When Eren finally saw the marks - now identified as tattoos - again, it was in bed, and Levi had pulled off his shirt to lay down and sleep beside Eren. Eren stared at them this time; he couldn't take his eyes off of them, interested, curious, and still wondering why. He didn't ask a lot of questions of Levi, and the favor was returned, but Levi had to at least grant him a little bit of faith here.

"Levi..." He began, and the other male rolled over, looking him steadily in the face.

Eren opened his mouth again to ask, and Levi stretched the hand that wasn't trapped beneath him and the mattress out to cover Eren's mouth. Eren flushed, abashed, and glanced away from the forever calm gaze of his lover. When his eyes flickered back again, however, there was a change in his eyes; a wavering uncertainty that made Eren feel uncomfortable, like Levi already knew what he was going to ask. 

"You don't have to tell me." Eren blurted, perhaps a bit louder than he should have, and Levi just shook his head, well, as best as anyone could while lying down.

"I want to."

Silence fell between them; a bit tense, but not uncomfortable. Eren wondered what he was going to say, didn't entirely understand what it was that Levi was hiding, if it was worth hiding. After a long while more, Levi rolled onto his back so that both of his arms were free, and gestured to the black dashes on his forearm.

"Petra." 

He murmured as he pointed to one, and then his finger drifted to the next.

"Gunther." 

He gestured to another, and Eren's mouth went dry as he made the connections, realized exactly what each mark means, why there are so many that they look like lines rather than individual little dashes.

"Ol--" 

When Levi started up again, it was Eren's turn to reach out and cover his mouth, keep him from saying anything. He could see the slightly wrinkle in Levi's brow that he got when he found something disgusting, but at the same time, something else; Eren didn't bother to try and decode it, because he'd heard enough.

Eren pulled his hand away and Levi exhaled, normally-steady breath shaky and quivery as it left him.

"No more." Eren spoke, and that was all he had to say for the pact to pass unspoken between them; even though they'd won, even though months and years had passed between the two of them, they were not always on the same page. At this moment, however, they were.

"No more." Levi agreed, turning himself back onto his side so that Eren could pull him in, so that his back could rest against Eren's chest,

Levi murmured his thanks, as he did every night, that Eren had not joined the ranks of his wrist, and with the names of their fallen, but not forgotten, comrades still sitting on the tip of his tongues and the edges of his mind, he fell asleep.


End file.
